I've been getting properly into modern for the first time recently, I've had an interest for a while but I've finally got around to building a deck and learning it well enough to be able to play competitively. That deck is U/W tron, which is basically control with a tron combo. One thing I have noticed while playing is that there are several strategies (elves, affinity, company, merfolk, GW aggro/wilted abzan) that really struggle to play against a wrath. For soul sisters, elves and affinity a well timed wrath pretty much ends the game.
Given this, I am increasingly surprised when I see so few decks with legitimate wrath effects. Pyroclasm shows up sometimes but on the whole there is very little play of wrath of god or damnation. So I am wondering if I have a skewed view of them due to my experiences so far, or is this a hole in the current modern meta game that ought to be abused more.
The reason is the speed of the format. A turn 4 wrath might not be fast enough to save you even, so 4 mana wraths are not a guarantee to survive a creature assault even if you start with it in your hand and have the right draws to play it in time.
Futhermore, wrath effects don't win the game on the spot. So when you wrath, you can still lose to the followup since the opponent is the first with an opportunity to re-establish a board presence.
That being said, U/W control is playable (although not likely to win against top draws from tier 1 decks) and it uses Supreme Verdict etc.
Modern is the format where 4 mana spells cast without ramping or cheating essentially need to win the game on their own.
If you want to try and make it work, I do like the not-caught-on-yet build with Myth realized and somewalkers.
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Modern Decks
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Most go with Anger of the Gods because of the exile clause and UW likes a mix of Wrath of God and Supreme Verdict.
Personally I've been playing with Slagstorm lately. I'm in love with the idea of a wrath that can kill a planeswalker, wipe the board, or when I'm being aggressive go for their face. Basically, it plays offense and defense.
Most UW Tron decks run some number of Wraths (usually 2-3) to Gift for. But that's mostly because they are a hard control deck with limited room for removal. UWR decks tend to max out on burn to finish the opponent off with, this also acts like removal which again means lesser need for Wrath effects. Still, most lists run a couple in the side board as catch all answers. Bottom line: Modern is a creature format which means that any deck that care about creatures pack around 6-10 removal spells since a) they run creatures themselves or b) spot removal is cheaper and more effecient + Lightning Bolt and Abrupt Decay are more versatile than Wraths.
Wraths aren't bad per say but they tend to get boarded out a lot in my experience. This is mostly due to them being sorcery speed. A lot of decks require instant speed answers (like Twin and Amulet Bloom and Inkmoth Nexus) + only a few decks strategy rely on swarming the board with critters (CoCo decks and Affinity) and Pyroclasm/Anger of the Gods takes care of most of them.
I really like the way the meta has been shaping up. Wrath effects are definitely in a great spot. I was at GP Charlotte this past weekend with Esper Control to 12-3 and just dominated the Elves, Zoo, Affinity & LK Abzan decks that I ran into. I ran 2 Verdict/1 Wrath main, and 1 Wrath, and 2 Night of Souls' Betrayal effects.
Supreme Verdict also seems excellent vs. all of the Delver variations, as well as Wrath against Jund and Junk.
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Magic player since July 2011.
Modern - Esper Draw-Go (Best finish - 12-3, 45th at GP Charlotte 2015), Jeskai Control, UR Breach Moon
I did see a game where an opponent cast consume the meek after a collected company resolved. I believe it was Esper Teachings vs Coco Elves or something. It seemed to be the only wrath the could effectively combat collected company. However, it's super fringe and seems like a dead card against a majority of decks. Examples being tron, storm, Ad Naus, living end, Scapeshift etc. I don't know if this helps at all, but I thought it would be worth noting. Maybe a fringe sideboard card?
Collected Company also make Turn wraths a liability because they can just reload in the end step.
Thats like saying thoughtseize isn't good because they still have 6 cards in their hand and will draw more. Angering a board that needs to be angered is...probably really important, coco afterwards or not.
I did see a game where an opponent cast consume the meek after a collected company resolved. I believe it was Esper Teachings vs Coco Elves or something. It seemed to be the only wrath the could effectively combat collected company. However, it's super fringe and seems like a dead card against a majority of decks. Examples being tron, storm, Ad Naus, living end, Scapeshift etc. I don't know if this helps at all, but I thought it would be worth noting. Maybe a fringe sideboard card?
I'd say that Consume the Meek is dead in fewer matchups than Wrath of God of Damnation is. While less than ideal, instant speed allows it to be effective against Splinter Twin combo and man lands.
I've been getting properly into modern for the first time recently, I've had an interest for a while but I've finally got around to building a deck and learning it well enough to be able to play competitively. That deck is U/W tron, which is basically control with a tron combo. One thing I have noticed while playing is that there are several strategies (elves, affinity, company, merfolk, GW aggro/wilted abzan) that really struggle to play against a wrath. For soul sisters, elves and affinity a well timed wrath pretty much ends the game.
Given this, I am increasingly surprised when I see so few decks with legitimate wrath effects. Pyroclasm shows up sometimes but on the whole there is very little play of wrath of god or damnation. So I am wondering if I have a skewed view of them due to my experiences so far, or is this a hole in the current modern meta game that ought to be abused more.
here is why you don't see any many wrath effects in modern:
1) Alot of decks sideboard boardwipes. Anger of the gods is a good example of this. (UW control should play around 3 supreme verdicts)
2) The decks that flood the field build their decks/ strategies assuming your opponent has a wrath effect in their hand. The elf deck will play stuff like Elvish visionary, Kitchen Finks and Thrun in game 2 to mitigate the effect. They'll dump 2-3 creatures to put some pressure on you and once you wrath at sorcery speed, they'll reload for a second wave.
Similarly, Zoo strategies have picked larger creatures to survive anger of the gods.
Decks like Little Kid Abzan specifically added Voice of Resurgence, Kitchen Finks and lingering souls to make supreme verdict less effective.
3) Supreme verdict is also a blank card in alot of matches.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Simply put, threats in non-rotating formats are significantly more varied, powerful and resilient than their limited and standard counterparts.
The fair deck run resilient threats (see Lingering Souls, Voice, Finks, Manlands, etc), the combo decks often do the damage the turn they come down (Exarch, Snapcaster, PrimeTime, etc) , simply blank wraths (See the Burn deck) or are faster than them (See Affinity). That is the problem with classic 4cmc wraths.
Given this, I am increasingly surprised when I see so few decks with legitimate wrath effects. Pyroclasm shows up sometimes but on the whole there is very little play of wrath of god or damnation. So I am wondering if I have a skewed view of them due to my experiences so far, or is this a hole in the current modern meta game that ought to be abused more.
Futhermore, wrath effects don't win the game on the spot. So when you wrath, you can still lose to the followup since the opponent is the first with an opportunity to re-establish a board presence.
That being said, U/W control is playable (although not likely to win against top draws from tier 1 decks) and it uses Supreme Verdict etc.
Modern is the format where 4 mana spells cast without ramping or cheating essentially need to win the game on their own.
If you want to try and make it work, I do like the not-caught-on-yet build with Myth realized and some walkers.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Personally I've been playing with Slagstorm lately. I'm in love with the idea of a wrath that can kill a planeswalker, wipe the board, or when I'm being aggressive go for their face. Basically, it plays offense and defense.
Wraths aren't bad per say but they tend to get boarded out a lot in my experience. This is mostly due to them being sorcery speed. A lot of decks require instant speed answers (like Twin and Amulet Bloom and Inkmoth Nexus) + only a few decks strategy rely on swarming the board with critters (CoCo decks and Affinity) and Pyroclasm/Anger of the Gods takes care of most of them.
Supreme Verdict also seems excellent vs. all of the Delver variations, as well as Wrath against Jund and Junk.
Modern - Esper Draw-Go (Best finish - 12-3, 45th at GP Charlotte 2015), Jeskai Control, UR Breach Moon
http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/13649 - My all foil cube.
Thats like saying thoughtseize isn't good because they still have 6 cards in their hand and will draw more. Angering a board that needs to be angered is...probably really important, coco afterwards or not.
I'd say that Consume the Meek is dead in fewer matchups than Wrath of God of Damnation is. While less than ideal, instant speed allows it to be effective against Splinter Twin combo and man lands.
WURUWr Stoneblade
Modern
WRGNaya Zoo Company
UB Tezzerator
UBW Gifts
B 8Rack
Legacy
RB Goblins
here is why you don't see any many wrath effects in modern:
1) Alot of decks sideboard boardwipes. Anger of the gods is a good example of this. (UW control should play around 3 supreme verdicts)
2) The decks that flood the field build their decks/ strategies assuming your opponent has a wrath effect in their hand. The elf deck will play stuff like Elvish visionary, Kitchen Finks and Thrun in game 2 to mitigate the effect. They'll dump 2-3 creatures to put some pressure on you and once you wrath at sorcery speed, they'll reload for a second wave.
Similarly, Zoo strategies have picked larger creatures to survive anger of the gods.
Decks like Little Kid Abzan specifically added Voice of Resurgence, Kitchen Finks and lingering souls to make supreme verdict less effective.
3) Supreme verdict is also a blank card in alot of matches.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
The fair deck run resilient threats (see Lingering Souls, Voice, Finks, Manlands, etc), the combo decks often do the damage the turn they come down (Exarch, Snapcaster, PrimeTime, etc) , simply blank wraths (See the Burn deck) or are faster than them (See Affinity). That is the problem with classic 4cmc wraths.